R. T. RUSSELL

BBC BASIC (86) for DOS

STOP! If you are looking for BBC BASIC for Windows
click here. In most respects it supersedes the MS-DOS version
described below, but if you can't (or don't want to) run Windows™ read on....

BBC BASIC (86) Plus is an implementation of BBC BASIC for PC compatibles running
MS-DOS™; it has been designed to be as compatible as possible with Version 4 of the
6502 BBC BASIC resident
in the BBC Micro Master series. It is not a BBC Micro emulator (for example, the screen modes supported are VGA-compatible rather than mimicking the BBC Micro screens) but all statements, functions and commands specified for BBC BASIC are available.

Two variants of interpreter are supplied: BBCBASIC and BIGBASIC. BBCBASIC is
the 'small memory model' version: the user's program and variable storage area
cannot exceed 64 kbytes. BIGBASIC is the 'large memory model' version: with
this, a BASIC program can store and manipulate, in memory, an amount of data up
to a maximum of 640 kbytes. BIGBASIC runs slightly more slowly than BBCBASIC,
and uses up more memory for the same BASIC program.

As well as the interpreters, two 'pseudo-compilers' are supplied: BBCRUN and
BIGRUN (small and large memory models respectively). With these, you can
combine a BBC BASIC program with a run-only version of the interpreter to
create a single executable file which can be run directly from the DOS prompt,
or from Windows, exactly like any other stand-alone program. BBC BASIC (86) Plus
includes an unlimited licence to distribute such executables freely without any
royalty for BBC BASIC being due.

BBC BASIC (86) incorporates an 80186 assembler, which allows you to include
assembly-language code within a BASIC program. This is a very powerful feature:
it enables speed-critical
operations to be carried out much more quickly than would otherwise be possible in
BASIC, and provides access to machine and operating-system features that would
otherwise not be available. Example programs are supplied with BBC BASIC
(86) which illustrate the use of embedded assembler to implement fast interrupt-driven
serial input-output.

BBC BASIC (86) comes with a number of utility and example programs, including a software
emulator of the BBC Micro's teletext-compatible display mode (MODE 7) which supports
the full set of features such as coloured text and graphics (contiguous or separated),
double-height, background colours, flashing text and 'held' graphics.

BBC BASIC (86) Plus is no longer sold separately, and is unsupported. It is supplied
as the bonus file dosbasic.zip when you purchase
BBC BASIC for Windows on CD-ROM, either directly
from us or from Rakewell Limited. So to obtain
your copy simply purchase BBC BASIC for Windows, specifying that you would like
it delivered on CD-ROM. If you have already purchased BBC BASIC for Windows
on CD-ROM but didn't receive dosbasic.zip please contact us and we will forward a copy.

A free demo version of BBC BASIC (86) is available, limited to 8K bytes of memory for program and variables. You can download it from here.